Bucket stave

Wooden vessels were made in many different ways. They could be hollow wooden blocks, turned or built from staves. Bowls, cups and plates were moulded on a lathe – either on both sides or only on the inside. The construction of vessels made of wooden strips called staves was the most complicated. These include bowls made of thin staves that are flatly hewn and flared towards the top, buckets made of straight, fairly thick staves, barrels and kegs made of staves that are convex in the middle, and pails and tubs made of trapezoidal staves. Stave containers of various shapes and capacities, such as turned and earthenware vessels, were used for storing or transporting liquid or loose goods and also used as tableware. Buckets and pails were supplied with metal bails or ropes for easy carrying. The bails were attached to metal eyes fixed in holes drilled directly into the staves, while the cords were attached to heads cut out together with the staves, as with the piece from Wolin. Larger stave vessels such as bulbs, buckets and milking troughs were held together with iron clamps. On the inside, however, a special cutout was made in the lower parts of the staves in order to properly place the bottom (croze), clearly visible on the piece from Wolin. There are often traces of a sealing substance, usually tar, at the point where the bottom is attached. Pine wood was excellent for coopers' products due to its good splitting properties and ease of processing, although slats for vessels were also produced from other types of wood. Hard and resilient woods were used to make barrels and soft woods were used to make buckets. Beech was perfect for storing dairy products and spruce for fish salting barrels. Anna Bogumiła Kowalska